A  r>  r>  n  E  s  H 


■iHE   TEMPERANCE    ISSUE    IN    NORWICH, 

DELIVERED  IN  BBEED  HALL,  JANDARY  MIL  1878. 

IJY 

REV.   L    T.    ch:a.m:berlaiix. 

Pastor  of  Broadway  Church. 

The  Rev.  L.  T.  Chamberlain  —Dear  Sir  :  'Die  un(lersig:ned,  citizens  of  Norwicli,  believing  that 
your  masterly  appeal  in  behalf  of  teni'-erance  in  Breed  Hall  on  the  14th  inst.,  contains  facts  and 
statistics  of  the  greatest  interest  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  and  town,  specially  affecting  our 
moral,  social  and  political  <'ondition.  would  most  respectfully  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publi- 
cation, that  it  may  be  put  in  the  hands  of  every  person  in  the  community. 

F.  Nichols,  John  Mitchell.  L.  Blackstone,  Wra.  M.  Williams,  Chas  C.  Haskell,  Henry  Bill,  Charles 

King,  E.  N.  Gibbs,  A.  W.  Prentice,  L.  W.  Carroll,  J.  H.  t:ranston,  Robert  Brown. 
Norwich  Conn.,  Jan.  17,  18T8. 

To  F.  Nichols.  John  Mitchell.  L.  Blackston«»,  Wm.  M,  Williams  and  others : 

Gentlemen  ;    Your  request  for  the  publication  of  the  address  delivered  in  Hreed  Hall  is  re- 
ceived.  I  will  prepare  it  for  the  print'^r  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  consistent  with  other  duties. 
With  higliest  i-egard.  yours  sincerely, 

L.  T.  CHAMBERLAIN. 
Norwich,  Jan.  18,  1878. 


Lauibs  and  Genti.k.vikn,  Fkllow 
Citizens  :  I  thank  von  for  the  sj:ret'ting 
which  you  give  me.  I  ;im  not.  insensible  to 
the  personal  kindness  winch  is  implied 
in  your  thron.sjing  welcome  It  is  a  joy 
to  me — and  I  confess  ir— to  clierish  the 
hope  that  every  face  into  wliirli  I  look 
to-night,  is  the  face  of  a  friend. 

I  know,  however,  tlial  your  coiniru 
hither  has  reference  to  tlie  cause  rather 
than  to  me.  Indeed,  I  iiave  invited  you 
to  listen  respecting  a  matter  whose  im- 
portance dwarfs  all  personal  considera- 
tions, and  which  may  rightfully  claim 
for  itself  the  foremost  place  I  deliber- 
ately requi'st  you  to  forget  the  speaker, 
and  to  think  onlj'  of  the  tilings  he  speaks. 
This  shall  be  your  platform  as  well  as 
mine.  If  you  agree  with  the  words  ul 
tered  let  the  assent  be  manifested.  If 
you  disagree  with  them,  or  even  condemn 
them,  let  there  be  no  hesitancy  in  making* 
known  your  verdict.  I  appeal  to  none  of 
the  timid  courtesies  to-night.  I  tell  you 
frankly  that,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I 
shall  utter  my  convictions,  whether  you 
hear  or  whether  you  forbear.  Though  I 
had  known  that  I  must  meet  here  those 
who  would  be  angry  at  my  words,  I  should 


have  cherished  the  same  put  pose  to  de- 
clare my  utmost  mind.  1  am  for  what  i 
believe  to  be  the  truth,  and  hisses  even 
are  not  the  things  which  I  have  been 
taught  to  fear.  This  is  the  hour  for  free 
dom  of  expression,  and  I  accord  it  to  you, 
even  as  I  claim  il  for  myself  ! 

Fellows-citizens,  how  shall  we  measure 
the  importance  of  the  case  before  usy  At 
what  mark  shall  we  set  the  magnitude  of 
the  Temperance  cause  V  Letting  pass,  for 
the  moment,  all  reference  to  methods  of 
procedure,  what  stands  as  the  computable 
urgency  of  the  issue  which  (;on venes  us 
lo-night  V  For  one.  1  own  to  the  juag- 
inent  that  the  cause  takes  rank  ami  ng 
the  foremost  that  ever  appesiled  to  your 
interest.  I  know  something  of  the  vari- 
ety and  seriousness  of  municiija!  affairs. 
1  understand  something  of  (piestions  of 
finance  and  police.  I  am  aware  tiial  .safe- 
guards against  lire  and  pestilence  are  not 
to  be  reckoned  as  trivial.  1  can  see  that 
law  and  order,  in  their  general  .signifi- 
cance, are  things  which  are  almo.st  syn- 
onymous with  property  and  life.  1  can 
imagine  that  were  any  of  these  great  in 
terests  to  be  brought  into  direct  issue  : 
were    anv   of   them    fuiulamentalh'    anrl 


openly  to  be  decided,  you  would  hold 
most  thinajs  else  in  abeyance  until  the  de- 
cision had  been  made.  You  would  say 
that  it  were  folly  itself  which  should 
^  .counsel  anytlung  save  a  public  awakening 
''  and  a  public  unanimity  of  action  ! 

But,  my  friends,  this  matter  of  Temper- 
ance or  Intemperance  is  more  than  ques- 
tions of  mere  finance.  In  the  comparison, 
it  evidently  were  not  much  whether  your 
taxes  were  nine  mills  or  nine  cents.  It 
were  not  relatively  much,  whether  you 
had  police,  or  slept.every  man  as  his  own 
sentinel  and  defence.  It  were  compara- 
tively unimportant  whether  the  tlames 
found  a  fire  department  trained  to  sub- 
due them,  or  whether  they  raged  against 
the  unorganized  efforts  of  the  citizens  at 
large.  In  the  contrast,  it  were  not  of 
moment  whether  there  were  health  laws 
or  health  anarchy.  Measured  by  results, 
it  were  not  so  essential  that  courts  should 
enforce  the  rights  of  personal  liberty  and 
proprietary  posession.  or  that  the  city 
government  should  uphold  the  statutes 
which  specify  the  things  of  ordinary  con 
cern.  I  venture  that  never,  except  in 
such  a  crisis  as  came  on  us  and  the  na- 
tion in  \8ij\,  has  this  generation  of  citi- 
zens discussed  so  great  an  issue  as  that 
which  concerns  itself  with  intoxicating 
drink.  The  things  of  so-called  politics 
are  trifling  compared  with  it,  and  I  he 
matters  of  trade  and  traffic  are  not  to  be 
mentioned  in  its  presence.  The  affair  is 
so  momentous  that  it  were  becoming  for 
the  citizens  to  assemble.  It  were  fitting 
that  counsel  should  be  taken,  and  the 
common  safety  considered.  I  know  not 
h,ow  any  one  whose  mind  tiiinks  or 
whose  heart  beats,  can  be  unconcerned 
and  inactive. 

Look  at  it,  good  friends  !  Take 
your  faif  Norwich  for  the  la.st  fifty  year.s. 
Write  only  the  history  which  can  be  (;oi- 
roborated  by  the  testimony  of  men  still 
living.  Set  down  nothing  to  guess  work. 
Draw  the  outline  according  to  exact  sta- 
tistics. Lay  the  picture's  colors  with  his- 
toric precision.  And  then  tell  me  if  you 
know  aught  el.se  in  our  midst  that  is  half 
so  urgent  or  half  so  terrible.  Why,  the 
march  of  Intemperance  in  this  community 
has  been  tracked  in  blood.  The  results  of 
its  working,  could  they  be  painted  on  the 
canvas,  would  make  the  whole  head  sick 
and  tile  whole  heart  faint.  Sometimes 
the  demon  of  drink  has  laid  his  hand  on 
the  rarest,  and  men  have  fallen  as  fell 
Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning  !  Sometimes 
the  victim  lias  been  one  unobserved  by 
the  muUitiuic!,  and  the  tragedy  has  been 
enacted  in  thai  silence  over  which  onl}' 
God  bends  in   pity.     Sometimes  woman 


has  been  plucked  from  the  throne  of  her 
womanliness;  and  sometimes  tender 
childhood  has  been  slain,  as  when  Herod 
made  mourning  m  Bethlehem.  By  scores 
and  by  hundreds,  the  worse  than  deaths 
have  taken  place,  and  the  record  is  still 
repeating  its  terrors.  Go  with  me  to- 
night, and  I  can  show  you  where  the  in- 
toxicating cup  makes  hell  on  earih.  I 
can  show  \'ou  where  it  still  is  true  to  its 
nature,  and  bites  like  a  serpent  and  stings 
like  an  adder.  By  day  and  by  night,  iis 
it  were  alongside  your  home  and  mine, 
the  old-time  scene  is  repeated  :  the  man 
or  woman  gradually  losing  the  best  of 
the  former  possessions  ;  the  wonted  geu- 
tlene.ss  passing  into  harshness  ;  I  he  ac- 
customed delicacy  of  feeling  and  dnnean- 
or  giving  place  to  grossness  ;  conscience 
deadened  ;  reason  impaired  ;  the  desiics 
degraded  ;  friends  grieved  and  alienated  ; 
business  neglected  ;  poverty  necessitated; 
the  family  made  wretched  ;  self  lespcct 
surrendered  ;  marriage  vows  dishonored  ; 
parental  affeeliou  destroyed  ;  decency 
outraged;  crime  committed  ;  .'liame  and 
despair  brought  on  ;  di-sease  of  every 
kind  incurred  ;  idiocy  made  to  alternate 
with  madness  ;  until,  at  last,  a  dentli  of 
stupor  or  frenzy  closes  the  ghastly  sc.-ne  ! 
Am  I  dipping  mj'  brush  in  fancy  s  colors? 
Am  I  declaiming  the  rant  of  a  visionary  V 
No  I  I  have  not  lived  a;:io;ig  vou  v>vy 
many  months,  but  I  iiave  nv,  d  ii  re  long- 
enough  to  know  this  wtiesfot'  i  i«;ivc 
spoken  !  If  you  doubt  tin-  fact.s,  I  wiil 
prove  them  to  you  by  ;u  sij;  ii  of  your 
eyes  and  the  hearing  of  your  ears  !  Some 
of  J'OU,  sitting  in  your  sheLeieil  iioiiies, 
may  not  have  seen  the  reality  '  Po-siUly 
you  would  choose  to  avoid  ili-  >igiii. 
But,  for  all  that,  the  closed  eye  does  not 
put  out  the  sun  !  The  passing  oy  i>n  I  lie 
other  side  does  not  change  the  fact  that 
the  wounded  traveler  is  moaiung  and  dy- 
ing there  in  his  pain  I  The  Ihing.s  of  In- 
temperance, in  all  tiieir  liideo  i-ne-s,  are 
tremendously  real,  and  you  mu>t  consider 
that  they  are  on  every  side  of  you  I 

And  now  that  I  am  spiakiu:;-  of  Ihe 
evil  itself,  let  me  call  your  attention  lo 
the  truth  that  this  which  takes  place  here 
is  taking  place  throughout  ihe  land.  One 
reason  why  you  are  to  avv.ike  as  a  Saiii- 
.son  startled  at  tidings  of  the  enemy,  is 
that  Intemperance  here  is  a  pari  of  In- 
temperance eveiy where.  Uiiopi)o>ed.  its 
reign  here  will  be  an  eneoniagenienl  lo  its 
dominion  there.  Tiie  evil  example  of 
this  city  set  on  ils  hills,  wiil  repeat  itself 
in  Hie  townships  round  about.  While, 
contrariwise,  the  roolule.  successful 
grappling  with  the  evil  here,  will  be  lo 
many  a  struggling  band  aiiuo>t  as  a  token 


UCSB   LIBRARr 


in  the  heavens.  Like  the  tvalch-flres  in 
the  earlier  days  of  freedom,  the  signal 
will  be  flamed  from  height  to  height,  and 
the  State  will  be  moved  toward  her  re- 
demption. Remember,  then,  that  in  this 
land  which  has  kept  its  proud  Centennial, 
this  land  which  we  love,  there  are,  at  the 
lowesi.  estimate,  seventj^-flve  thousand 
deaths  annuail}'  by  the  direct  cause  of  In- 
temperance !  The  funeral  processions 
are  a  solid  year  in  passing  a  given  point. 
Five  liundred  thousand  confirmed  drunk- 
ards! A  column  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  marching  in  close  ranks,  two 
abreast  !  Five  millions  of  men  andwom- 
eii  who  daily  go  to  the  saloons  for  intoxi- 
cating drinks  as  a  beverage  !  Though 
they  march  twenty  miles  a  day,  it  will 
take  them  a  month  to  pass  our  door! 
One  hundred  and  forty  thousand  licensed 
liquor-saloons  in  the  United  States  ! 
Though  you  allow  but  the  minimum  of 
space  for  each  saloon,  they  would  fill 
both  sides  of  a  street  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  long  !  One  hundred  thousand 
drinking  criminals  convicted  of  crime 
by  the  testimony  of  legally  examined 
witnesses !  From  eighty  to  ninety  per 
cent,  of  (ill  statutory  crime  connected 
with  Intemperance  !  In  Connecticut, 
reckoning  every  state,  county,  and  mu- 
nicipal prison,  more  than  ninety  per  cent. 
>)f  the  inmates  addicted  to  strong  drink  ! 
Surely  he  of  the  pale  horse  rides  and 
blood  flows  to  the  very  bridle.  It  is 
strong  drink  which  peoples  our  houses  of 
correction  and  jails  ;  and  after  all  that, 
leaves  society  infested  with  lawlessness 
and  crime.  On  the  criminal  side  it  is  like 
a  contagion  ! 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  economic 
waste  ?  Enough,  here  in  Norwich  alone, 
to  make  us  feel  tliat  on  that'sTde  loo,  the 
Temperance  cause  is  the  cause  of  the 
common  welfare!  I  could  point  you,  if  I 
chose,  to  fortunes  wasted  for  the  reason 
that  the  inheritors  were  drunkards  !  Es- 
tates lost,  because  the  owners  were  the 
victims  of  intemperance  !  But  let  that 
pass.  Take  the  laboring  men — the  men 
and  women  who  get  their  living  by  the 
sweat  of  the  brow  Take  the  families  of 
those  who  rely  on  their  daily  wages.  And 
what  is  the  waste  to  them  ?  You  can't 
estimate  it.  It  is  beyond  specific  calcu- 
lation. None  but  the  gathered  victims 
themselves,  or  the  owners  of  the  places 
where  the  destroyer  is  sold,  can  give  us 
even  the  approximate  figures.  In  the 
last  ten  years  it  has  been  enough  to  give 
a  comfortable  house  and  garden  plot  to 
every  toiling  family  in  the  city.  It  is 
more  than  has  been  spent  on  your  church- 
es and  schools  combined.     The  current 


loss  would  to-day  pay  all  youi'  city  tnxe?' 
and  support  all  your  deserving  poor.  For, 
my  friends,  when  you  come  to  the  eco 
nomic  waste,  you  must  reckon  ail  ales 
and  beer,  as  well  as  the  stronger  drinks  ! 
You  will  hear  it  said  that  ale  and  beer 
are  nutritious,  and  tluit  the  hard  working 
man  who  spends  his  fen  and  twenty  cents 
a  day  for  such  drinks  is  not  wasting  it  ! 
That  such  beverages  are  in  sonic  insian 
ces  a  healthful  stimulant  and  tonic,  is 
true.  Thej'  might,  in  themselves,  be  aj)- 
propriate  as  mild  forms  of  medicine. 
But  as  for  nutriment,  the  talk  is  non- 
sense !  "  We  can  prove,"  says  Baron 
Liebig,  prince  of  chemists,  "we  can 
prove  .vith  mathematical  certainty,  that 
as  much  flour  as  can  lie  on  the  ])()int  of  a 
table  knife,  is  more  nutritions  than  eight 
quarts  of  the  best  Bavarian  beer  :  that  a 
person  who  is  able  to  consume  tiiat 
amount  of  beer  daily,  obtains  fnun  it  in  a 
whole  year,  in  the  most  favoiahle  case, 
exactly  the  amount  of  nutritious  consiil 
uents,  which  is  obtained  in  a  five  ixiund 
loaf,  or  in  three  pounds  of  meat."  In 
other  words,  and  still  speakinu'  witli 
mathematical  precision,  if  ymi  diink 
fourteen  hogsheads  of  ale,  you  can  get 
the  amount  of  two  large  loaves  of  hnad  ! 
Every  dollar  spent  for  even  ale  oi-  lieer  is. 
accordingly,  ninety -nine  liuiidredlli^; 
waste 

And  in  this  relation  of  nialciial  loss, 
Norwich  does  not  stand  alone.  S(  \(ii!  y 
five  million  gallons  of  aleolinlie  lifiuois 
annually  consumed  in  the  Ihiied  Siaics! 
Add  wine  and  beer,  and  one  luindreil 
milHon  gallons,  at  a  cost  to  the  (■(insnrner 
of  six  hundred  million  (h)llars!  And  this 
is  one-seventh  of  all  our  manufaeluns 
for  the  year,  and  more  than  one  fourth 
of  all  farm  productions,  betterments  and 
stock  !  Enough  to  buy  two  and  a  half 
barrels  of  flour  for  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  this  broad  land  I  As  shown 
by  the  sworn  returns  of  internal  revenne, 
it  is  less  than  the  truth  to  say  that  since 
1860,  we  have  destroyed  in  drink  more 
than  twelve  billion  dollars!  More  than 
five  times  the  amount  of  the  national 
debt,  and  two  and-a-half  times  the  whole 
cost  of  the  War  of  the  Kebellion  to  all 
sections  of  the  countiy  !  In  every  twen- 
ty years,  we  as  a  nation,  drink  ourselves 
out  of  the  value  of  our  whole  countiy, 
real  estate  and  personal  property  includ- 
ed !  It  is  then  against  such  a  national 
waste,  that  we  set  ourselves  when  we  lift 
the  standard  of  Temperance  in  the  city  of 
Norwich.  W^e  are  a  part  of  the  great 
whole.     Redeem   this     city     from     such 

ectncmic   ravage,    and   you    have    (Icm. 

something  toward  redeeming  cvciy  cjiy 


and  village  in  the  land  !  Manifestly  it  is 
fitting  that  in  all  the  relationships  of  this 
cause,  we  should  remeniber  that  we  are 
part  of  a  community  whose  boundaries 
are  onlj'  fixed  by  the  boundaries  of  our 
Republic  and  the  world  I 

Well,  then,  what  do  you  say  about  the 
reasonableness  of  a  public  gathering  to 
consider  what  can  be  done  for  Temper- 
ance ?  AVhit  do  you  sav  about  the  dan 
ger  of  getting  too  excited  with  reference 
to  it  ?  Too  excited  ?  Yes,  if  one  loses 
his  head,  and  under  the  pressure  goes 
insane  !  But  othei^wise  his  excitement  is 
justified.  His  danger  is  only  such  as 
might  be  that  of  one  who  should  set  him- 
self to  the  rescue  of  the  dying,  or  the 
sending  of  deliverance  to  the  famishing 
and  the  enslaved  I  Would  to  God  that 
more  men  and  women  were  "  beside  them- 
selves "  in  this  great  issue  !  Would  that 
all  men  and  women  might  resolve  that 
they  would  give  neither  sleep  to  their 
eyes  nor  slumber  to  their  eyelids,  until 
they  had  done  their  utmost  to  check  the 
appalling  evil  which  is  in  our  midst  and 
in  the  land  ! 

There  was  once  a  cnisade  of  women 
against  the  saloons  and  rum-shops.  Their 
souls  were  so  enkindled  that  they  could 
not  rest.  They  prayed  to  the  God  above 
them,  and  then  clad,  like  Joan  of  Arc,  in 
the  armor  of  their  pure  intent,  they  went 
to  their  fellow-men  who  were  dealing  out 
the  deadly  thing,  and  begged  of  them  to 
desist.  Pleaded  with  them  in  the  name 
of  God  and  humanity  to  find  and  employ 
some  other  means  of  livelihood  and 
wealth  !  I  believe  that  that  crusade  was 
inspired  of  the  Lord.  It  had  in  it  more 
of  the  anointing  which  is  of  the  Holjj 
Gho.st  and  of  fire  than  has  belonged  to  any 
other  philanthropic  movement  of  our 
times.  It  accomplished  a  glorious  result. 
Yet,  in  one  sense,  how  pitiful  the  sight! 
Woman,  and  otten-times  she  who  was 
clothed  in  the  garments  of  beauty  and 
gentleness  and  culture,  kneeling  on  the 
side-walk  and  in  the  dens  of  wickedness, 
entreating  for  those  who  were  dear  to  her, 
her  husband  and  little  ones,  or  the  hus 
bands  and  little  ones  of  her  si.«ters  at 
her  side  !  Oh,  what  must  the  angels  have 
thought  of  us  fathers  and  brothers!  Did 
they  think  that  the  tenderness  and  strength 
of  Christian  manhood  had  clean  gone 
from  the  world  ?  Di^  they  think  that 
chivalry  was  dead,  like  Lycidas,  and  that 
moral  courage  found  none  of  the  sons  of 
earth  with  whom  it  might  dwell  ?  Why 
did  not  men  take  the  place  of  mediation, 
and  stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead, 
between  the  destroyer  and  his  victim  V 
Why  will   not  a  hundred  of  our  noblest 


citizens,  before  this  week  has  passed — our 
ministers,  our  lawyers,  our  physicians, 
our  editors,  our  manufacturing  princes, 
our  bank  presidents  and  cashiers,  our  mer- 
chants, our  so-called  laboring  men, — why 
will  they  not  go  in  a  body,  and  confer  in 
tremendous  earnest,  with  the  liquor  sel- 
lers of  this  city  ?  Why  will  they  not  go, 
and  in  the  name  of  societj'  and  the  com- 
mon weal,  in  the  name  of  earth  and 
heaven,  ask  them  to  cease  the  accursed 
trade  ?  They  certainly  would  do  tiiat,  or 
something  which  should  be  its  equivalent, 
if  they  were  rightly  aroused!  If  their  own 
skirts  were  clear,  their  own  hands  clean, 
and  their  hearts  right,  they  would  organ- 
ize a  new  crusade,  and  themselves  sl^nd 
in  the  front!  Do  j'ou  think  that  anj^  oppo- 
sition could  long  resist  such  an  attack  ? 
I  tell  you,  Norwich  can  be  redeemed, 
whenever  the  noble  men  and  women  of 
Norwich  shall  decree  it,  and  employ  the 
means  !  But  it  will  never  be  done  unless 
we  inove!  So  long  as  we  sit,  either  in 
listlessness  or  despair,  the  evil  will  defy 
us,  and  remain.  We  must  resort  to  a 
moral  suasion  which  shall  at  once  be  calm 
with  the  calmness  of  reason,  and  vehement 
with  the  vehemence  of  love  ! 

And  when  I  speak  thus  of  moral  suasion, 
of  reason  and  of  love,  I  speak  of  what 
must  f<^rever  be  the  supreme  method  and 
inspiration  of  the  Temperance  cause. 
For  voluntary  Total  Abstinence  is  the 
ideal  at  which  we  aim.  It  is  "  touch  not, 
tivste  not,  handle  not."  It  is  each  person 
saying,  "  I  will  liave  nought  to  do  with  it. 
Save  for  purely  mechanical  and  medicinal 
ends,  I  will  no  more  have  dealings  in  it, 
than  in  the  plasue.  I  will  abjure  it,  for 
my  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  souls 
about  me."  To  that  choice  we  wish  to 
bring  every  intemperate  person,  and  every 
seller  of  intoxicating  drink.  On  the  van- 
tage-ground of  that  resolve,  we  wish  to 
maintain  every  .soul  on  whom  the  evil  has 
not  yet  come.  You  see  at  once,  then,  that 
there  can  be  no  means  adequate,  without 
moral  suasion  inspired  bj'  reason  and  love. 
There  is  nothing  else  which  is  nearly 
enough  omniscient  and  omnipotent. 
There  is  nothing  else  whose  combined 
gentleness  and  power  are  sufficient  to  the 
end.  Total  abstinence  can't  be  secured 
by  prohibition  alone.  It  can't  be  secured 
by  denunciations  of  occasional  and  mod- 
erate drinkers  ;  by  opprobrium  visited  on 
those  who  partake  of  wine  and  beer.  It 
can  only  be  done  by  pleading  the  tendency 
ot  even  such  moderate  use,  and  by  point- 
ing out  the  effort  of  such  example.  I  know 
that  there  is  a  middle  course  which  is  pos- 
sible to  some.  I  see  a  few  walking  in  it. 
But  I  count  it,  on  the  whole,  a  dangerous 


thing  which  they  are  doing.  There  are 
moderate  drinkers,  and  yet  somewhere 
a'ong  the  line  which  diverges  from  total 
abstinence,  lie  death  and  hell.  If  to  any 
one  who  thinks  of  the  power  of  habit,  and 
the  influence  of  example,  it  seems  best  to 
walk  along  that  diverging  line,  defending 
himself  by  the  plea  that  he  can  maintain 
his  footliold  while  others  are  continually 
falling,  his  heart  is  made  differently  from 
mine.  I  abjure  whatever  is  connected 
with  Intemperance.  The  suggestion,  the 
association,  the  possibility,  is  enough  to 
turn  me  against  it  ! 

Therefore  "  with  malice  toward  none, 
with  charity  toward  all,"  let  us  inscribe 
MORAL  SUASION  on  the  banner  of  our  cause! 
That  as  the  first  and  final  watchword,  and 
then  PKOHiBiTiON  next  and  alongside  ! 
For,  as  I  formerly  said  on  this  platform, 
the  rightfulness,  both  constitutional  and 
moral,  of  a  prohibitory  Temperance  law, 
is  beyond  successful  question.  No  one 
denies  that  society,  government,  may 
regulate  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks, 
may  impose  conditions  and  restrictions. 
But  in  the  eye  of  civil-rights,  of  juris- 
prudence, the  power  to  regulate  is  the 
power  to  prohibit.  In  other  phrase,  the 
body-politic  has  a  constitutional  and 
moral  right  to  pass  whatever  laws  are 
deemud  to  be  for  the  highest  common- 
good.  Is  bound,  indeed,  to  pass  such 
laws.  May  say,  for  instance,  if  that  is 
judged  to  be  for  the  highest  welfare,  that 
that  you  and  I  shall  eat  no  more  meat  and 
drink  no  more  cold  water  ;  shall  ride  no 
more  in  carriages,  nor  wear  aught  save 
home-spun  and  sackcloth  ;  that  we  shall 
build  houses  of  no  more  than  specified 
dimensions,  and  go  from  those  houses  at 
only  specified  hours.  The  only  question 
is — "  What  does  the  actual,  large,  funda- 
mental public-welfare  demand  ?"  Set- 
tle that  at  the  tribunal  of  reason  and  love, 
and  then  write  on  the  statute-book  the 
word  which  is  in  keeping.  Believe  it, 
constitution  and  moral  law  both  are  your 
support  in  so  doing.  As  for  myself,  I 
wish  not  only  that  liquor-selling  for  other 
than  mechanical  and  medicinal  purposes, 
were  prohibited  in  Norwich,  and  in  every 
town  and  city  of  Connecticut,  but  I  wish 
that  the  very  manufacture  and  importa- 
tion of  ardent  spirits,  save  for  the  uses 
mentioned,  were  proliibited  from  sea  to 
sea  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf.  I 
wi.sh  that  by  an  enactment  as  solemn  and 
sovereign  as  that  by  which  they  declared 
their  political  independence,  the  people, 
the  citizens  of  the  Republic,  would  pre- 
vent the  existence  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
except  for  the  arts  of  mechanics  and  med 
icine. 


And  yet,  when  I  publicly  avow  my 
choice  of  prohibition,  I  do  not  for  a  mo- 
ment forget  what  I  have  said  fonceriiing 
moral  suasion  It  is  eiiouuli  to  sccun'  rny 
advocacy  and  vote,  if  it  can  be  shown  that 
prohibition  is  even  helpful.  I  know  it 
cannot  take  the  place  of  ])ersonal,  sympa- 
thetic, unremitting  effort.  Tliat  ought 
not  to  be  proposed.  But  if,  on  the  whole, 
it  will  aid  the  good  cause  of  Tcinpcraiice 
Py  so  much  as  a  hair's  brcadlli  or  a  feath- 
er's weight.  I  am  for  it  now,  here,  always, 
everywhere.  If  instead  of  having  every 
third  door  on  our  freciuented  streets  heck 
oningour  fellow  citizens  to  ruin  ;  enticing 
them  with  the  attractions  of  sight  and 
sound  ;  we  can  make  the  evil  ditlicnlt  of 
access,  so  that  he  who  seeks  it  shall  l)e 
obliged  to  go  over  and  around  and 
through  the  restraints  of  law,  it  is  sufli- 
cient  to  warrant  the  statute.  And  that, 
and  far  more,  fellow-citizens, can  l)e  done! 
The  universal  verdict  is  thai  prohibitory 
laws  sustained  b}' the  will  of  a  fiiitlifiil 
majority,  are  vastly  heljit'ul.  They  tend 
greatly  to  diminish  diuukennes'-  and  pau- 
perism and  crime.  The  records  of  statis- 
ticians and  the  common  ol)seivati()ti  con- 
firm that  statement.  "I,  therefore,  am  for 
prohibitory  laws.  I  say  to  you  to  iii;.;iit, 
let  us  leave  no  stone  uiitunied.  no  legiti- 
mate influence  unenipiovcd,  until  in  this 
city  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  as  a  beverage 
has  been  put  under  tlie  ban  of  law. 
If  we  can't  carry  itat  the  next  election, — 1 
believe  we  can, — then  at  the  election 
after!  We  won't  re.st  until  it  is  aceoiii- 
plished  1 

And  here  let  me  say  that  what  especially 
needs  to  be  .settled  in  this  city  of  Norwich, 
is  that  whatever  law  is  pas.sed,  the  law  is 
to  be  enforced!  That  when  the  people,  af- 
ter discussion,  and  at  the  l)allot-box.  de- 
cide, the  decision  is  to  be  enforced  to  the 
letter.  Fellow  citizens,  is  not  that  the  the- 
ory of  every  government,  which  is  "of  the 
people, by  the  people,  and  for  the  peoiile"? 
Do  citizens  consider  and  confer,  and  leave 
their  homes  and  business  on  days  of  elec- 
tion, simply  to  play  with  wonlsr  Is  it  to  be 
thought  that  he  is  officious  and  unreason- 
able, who  sets  himself  to  the  execution  of 
what  has  been  enacted  ?  Is  he,  forsooth, 
the  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  and  one 
to  be  looked  upon  askance  V  Must  he  walk 
among  us,  as  one  threatened  and  hated  ? 
Thank  God,  there  is  at  least  one  man  in 
Norwich  who, whatever  may  be  said  of  the 
felicity  of  all  liis  methods,  honors  law  and 
the  community  thai  passed  the  law,  by 
acting  on  the  supposition  that  statut(!sare 
to  be  executed.*  One  man  who  laughs  at 
threats,  and  fears  God  rather  than  (jod's 
enemies  !     What  shall  be  done  unto  hiin? 

♦Rev.  Hugh  Montgomery. 


In  the  name  of  the  people,  for  they  are 

ting,  let  tliis  be  done  !  Let  a  civic  crown 
e  phtcedon  his  liead  ;  let  robes  of  honor 
be  cast  about  his  shoulders  ;  and  let  him 
be  borne  thl-ouirh  the  midst  of  the  city, 
with  the  prcclamation,  "  Thus  shall  it  be 
done  to  the  man  whom  the  king  deliijht- 
eth  to  honor."  Nor  should  I  be  sorry, 
though  I  myself  were  commissioned  to  be 
the  king's  iierald  therein. 

1  confess  that  I  am  amazed  as  well 
as  troubled,  when  1  see  the  state  of  public 
opinion  here  with  regard  to  the  carrymg 
out  of  what  has  been  chosen  by  the  people. 
I  have  heard  it  said, — it  seems  incredible, 
but  it  is  true, — I  have  heard  it  said,  that 
to  be  active  in  enforcing  even  the  pres- 
ent license-law,  was  to  subject  the  man  of 
business  to  a  loss  of  patronage!  And  the  air 
has  borne  certain  whispered  words — dep 
recated  indeed  by  the  rum-sellers — about 
having  one's  buildings  burned,  if  he  didn't 
mind  his  own  atfairs  !  Ah,  well,  my  fel- 
low-citizens, j'ou  had  best  .settle  that  issue 
once  for  all.  For  the  sake  of  yourselves 
and  j'our  children,  you  liad  best  meet  that 
question  now.  And  settle  it,  I  pray  you, 
by  the  proof  of  trial.  Meel  il  by  the  test 
of  facts.  Execute  the  piesen(  license-law, 
from  Norwich  Town  tf)  Grecneville.  Exe- 
cute it  conspicuously,  openly!  Some- 
times the  air  can  be  cleared  by  nothing 
less  than  a  thunder-storm.  Here  there- 
fore let  the  lightnings  of  public  opinion 
flash,  and  the  thunders  of  fearless  action 
roll.  Then,  perchance,  the  atmosphere 
will  be  healthful,  and  we  shall  understand 
that  law  means  law,  and  that  this  is  a 
law-e.xecuting  people. 

I  am  in  earnest  about  this,  and  I  am 
ready  to  be  consistent.  I  can  understand 
the  defensibleness  of  the  action  of  even  the 
present  board  of  Selectmen,  in  granting 
additional  licenses.  1  am  not  surprised 
that  to  the  three  or  four  score  already  is- 
sued, they  are  making  increase.  1  am 
not  by  any  means  certain  that  I  would  not 
do  the  same,  provided  I  remained  on  the 
board.  For  the  will  of  the  majority  of 
the  voters  of  this  city,  as  legally  expressed, 
was  in  favor  of  license.  They  meant 
that  unless  there  was  some  peculiar  per- 
sonal reason  to  thecontrar\',  all  those  who 
chose  to  engage  in  the  liquor-trathc  should 
do  so,  upon  the  payment  of  the  stipula- 
ted fee.  Is  it  altogether  clear  that  an  ad- 
ministrative orticer.  even  though  he  be 
clothed  with  the  possible  power,  is  requir- 
ed so  to  act  as  to  defeat  the  fundamental 
w  ill  of  the  people  ^  If  the  majority  say  li- 
cense, they  have  a  legal  right  to  the  reali- 
zation of  their  choice  !  1  tell  you,  my 
Temperance  friends,  if  we  want  to  win  in 
the  statutory    conflict,   we  must    win  at 


the  open  polls  !  Certainly,  if  any  are  to 
be  licensed  to  sell  ardent  spirits  as  a  bev- 
erage, all  who  care  for  it,  and  comply 
with  the  full  specification,  should  share 
in  the  permission.  I  don't  believe  in  li- 
censing the  wealthy  and  so-called  respect- 
able rumseller,  and  withholding  a  license 
from  the  man  or  woman  who  keeps  a  bar 
in  some  filthy  cellar.  It  is  all  alike. 
The  true  theory  of  licen.se  is,  in  general,  to 
give  licenses  to  all  who  will  buy  them 
That  is  democratic.  And,  on  the  basis  of 
a  license-law,  that  onl}-  is  tair. 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  I  do  not  com- 
plain of  the  fact  that  under  our  present 
statute,  licenses  are  planted.  What  I  ask 
now  is  that  when  the  licenses  are  granted, 
their  clear  provisions  be  observed.  I  ask 
that  the  plain  stipulations  be  complied 
with.  And  that  is  the  public  question 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  we  first 
of  all  must  settle.  We  have  small  right 
to  think  that  we  deserve  anything  better 
than  the  present  statute,  until  we  have 
settled  It  ! 

Fellow-citizens,  either  I  was  a  mistaken 
observer  of  the  last  Temperance  contest  in 
this  city,  or  one  great  cau.se  of  the  defeat, 
was  the  failure  To  give  valid  a.ssurance 
that  a  prohibitory  law  would  be  executed, 
if  voted.  The  no-licen.se  law  it  is  true 
w^as  weighted  with  the  oppressive  fea- 
ture of  allowing  no  aulhorized  sale  of 
ardent  spirits,  not  even  for  mechanical  or 
medicinal  purposes.  A  feature  which  I 
venture  wasnt-yer  put  there  by  the  friends 
of  Tempeiance  !  I  have  no  question  that 
the  alternative  was  made  thus  severe  and 
unreasonable,  to  the  precise  end  of  practi- 
cally defeating  no-license.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  a  feature  which  ought  to  be  repealed. 
And  before  the  close  of  this  meeting,  I 
trust  a  resolution  may  be  off'ered,  request- 
ing the  legislature  and  our  representatives 
therein,  to  amend  the  no-license- law  so  as 
to  allow  of  the  sale  of  aidini  spirits,  by 
proper  persons,  for  strictly  mechanical  and 
medicinal  purposes. 

I  can  understand  that  that  single  unrea- 
sonableness of  the  no-license  law  cost  il 
many  votes.  But  still  il  would  have  won 
the  day,  had  it  not  been  widely  believed 
that  its  friends  would  not  efllciently  sup- 
port it,  when  passed. 

There  wassomething  said,  indeed,  by  the 
advocates  of  prohibition  about  the  city  au- 
thorities being  bound  to  execute  a  prohib- 
itory law,  but  it  was  rather  intimated  that 
the  citizen,  in  general,  though  he  voted  no- 
license,  was  not  to  feel  obligated  to  take 
special  trouble  or  incur  special  risk.  I 
believe  that  that  word,  or  the  absence  ot  a 
different  word,  cost  us  our  defeat.  If 
the  fifty,  or  even  the  five.courageous,  wise. 


trusted  men  could  have  been  found.  avIio 
would  saj',  "We  will  see  that  a  prohibitory 
law  is  executed,  if  enacted, "  the  law 
would  have  been  put  on  the  statute-book 
last  October.  I  beiieveas  slronglj-asany 
one  in  holding  our  ofHcials  to  the  duty  of  a 
taithfnl  effort  to  carry  out  whatever  the 
pecple  decree.  That  is  their  business. 
That  is  why  we  have  mayor,  common 
council,  prosecuting  attorney,  and  police. 
And  if  mayor,  common  council,  prosecut- 
ing attorney,  police,  one  or  all,  are  not 
willing  to  accept  the  duty,  andenterzeal 
ously  on  its  performance,  then  say  to  them 
that  j'ou  only  await  their  resignation  in 
order  to  put  others  in  their  place.  Tell 
them  that  they  are  but  j'our  servants,  anil 
that  your  commands  for  them  are  on  the 
statute-book.  Aye,  tell  them  to  execute,  as 
far  as  in  them  lies,  every  law  that  is  passed, 
or  they  themselves  shall  be  Indicted  and 
condemned  !  At  the  same  time,  charge 
yourselves  also  with  the  common  welfare. 
Keenforce  the  effort  of  the  city  otticials  by 
your  own  eternal  vigilance.  Remember, 
It  is  only  the  people  who  have  eyes  enough 
to  trace  out  crime,  and  the  people  who 
have  hands  enough  to  strangle  it.  I  have 
listened  to  words  in  this  coiimunity  which 
seemed  to  imply  that  if  atitizen  voted  a 
gainst  a  certain  enactment,  he  had  no  re- 
sponsibility for  its  execi'tion.  It  has  been 
said  of  this  license-law, — |  It  is  no  law  of 
mine."  Fellow  citizens,  everj'  law  is  yoin- 
law  and  in  a  sense  too  serious  to  be  evaded. 
That  license-law  is  where  it  is,  bj'  the  will 
of  the  people.  You  are  a  permanent  part 
of  the  body-politic.  You  can't  divest  your 
selves  of  your  citizenship.  But  it  inheres 
in  the  very  idea  of  citizenship,  that  you 
help  to  execute  the  will  of  the  majority, 
unless  you  believe  that  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority calls  you  to  absolute  wrong.  So 
far  as  the  administration  of  statutes  is  in 
general  concerned,  they  may  be  consid- 
ered as  passed  by  unanimous  vote.  Add 
to  that,  moreover,  that  the  issue  of  Tem- 
perance is  one  of  those  issues  which  so 
concern  the  most  serious  interests  of  the 
community,  that  you  cannot,  on  any 
ground,  be  justified  in  lukewarmness. 
Does  the  passing  of  thi.-t  statute  or  that, 
I  ask,  affect  jour  bounden  duty  in  regard 
to  the  essential  well-being  of  your  neigh- 
bor V  In  the  face  of  that  consideration, 
are  you  at  liberty  to  enlist  and  resign 
whenever  you  please  V  No  !  Well,  ans- 
wer me  this  :  Would  it  not  be  better  for 
this  comn\unity,  better  for  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men,  that  the  restrictions  of  even 
the  license-law  sh(.uld  be  enforced,  than 
that  the  rum-tiaftic  .should  be  without  let 
or  hindrance  V  Then  let  us  hear  no  more 
about   disowning   responsibility.      Every 


man  is  respnnsi1)!e  for  securing  the  good 
which  is  the  liigliest  possilili'  under  the 
circumstances.  Change  the  circumstan- 
ces, if  they  be  not  t'uvorable,  and  you 
have  the  power.  But  always  and  every- 
where toil  for  the  highest  good  ' 

Above  all  things,  teach  the  lesson  that 
law,  and,  in  general,  cm-i/  law,  is  lo  he 
executed,  here  \\\  Norwjcli,  and  through- 
out the  Republic  ! 

We  have  a  license-law  on  the  subject  of 
intoxicating  liquor,  ale.  beer  and  Rhine- 
wine.  When  the  wi.se  Solon  was  asked 
if  he  had  given  the  Athenians  the  best 
possible  laws,  he  answered,  "  Yes,  of 
such  as  they  would  receive.'"  Our  license- 
law  shows  the  mark  of  our  ])reseiit  prog- 
ress. We  shall  go  higher  by  and  by  I 
But  we  have,  at  present,  a  license-law. 
That  j-ou  knew  before.  Yet  how  many 
of  you  know  what  the  license-law  is  v  1  , 
own  that  when  I  first  examined  it,  1  was 
astonished  at  the  general  niaiiifol(ln<'ss 
and  stringency  of  its  jirovisions.  And 
the  more  was  I  astonished  to  read  thai 
any  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  law 
should,  besides  the  specific  penalty,  work 
the  revocation  of  the  license  itself  at  the 
hands  of  the  County  Coinniissioiiers. 
Bear  that  in  mind  when,  a  litde  later.  1 
come  to  the  restrictive  sections.  See  un- 
der what  tremeiulous  and  antecedent  liii- 
bility  the  rum-.seller  stands  1  Hear  in 
mind,  too.  that  every  application  for  li- 
cense must  be  in  writing,  signed  by  liie 
applicant  in  person,  and  a  copy  be  left  in 
the  office  of  the  Town  Clerk,  subject  to 
pul)lic  inspection  for  two  weeks  j)ievi(nis 
to  the  granting  thereof.  Have  you  in- 
spected any  such  applications  to  see  if 
they  were  made  by  ])ersons  who  are  spec- 
ially untrustworthy  ? 

And  just  at  this  point,  let  me  show  you 
what  provision  is  made  for  bringing  the 
whole  traffic  under  the  restrictions  of  the 
license-law.  Provision  for  putting  it 
where  we  can  make  it  amenable  to  some 
sort  of  restraint.  Putting  it  where  we 
can,  at  least,  say  to  llie  vender,  "  If  you 
persist  in  the  traftic,  there  is  a  jiresci  ibed 
way.  See  that  you  walk  in  it.  Mind 
that  you  put  your  feet  on  tiiat  "marl  of 
hell."  for  if  you  do  not,  then,  in  the  name 
of  law,  we  will  see  that  you  are  puni-hed." 
I  quote: — "Any  person,  witliout  a  li- 
cense therefor,  who  shall  sell,  or  exchange, 
or  offer  or  expose  for  sale  or  exchange,  or 
own  or  keep  with  intent  to  sell  or  ex 
chiinge  any  intoxicating  liquor  ;  and  any 
person  licensed  to  sell  ale,  lager  beer  and 
Rhine-wine  only,  who  shall  keep,  sell,  or 
give  away  in  the  saloon,  store,  or  room 
where  he  is  so  licensed,  anj'  other  intoxi- 
cating liquor  ;  .shall  be  fined  not  le.ssthan 


fifty  dollars,  nor  more  than  five  hundred 
dollars,  or  imprisoned  not  more  than  six 
months,  or  both. "  And,  as  if  that  were 
not  enough,  listen  to  this  section  of  the 
*-  clear  statute.  "  Every  person  who  shall 
1  keep  a  place  in  which  it  is  reputed  that 
intoxicating  liquors  are  kept  for  sale, 
without  having  a  license  therefor,  siiall 
be  fined  not  less  than  twenty  dolars  nor 
more  than  fifty  dollars,  or  imprisoned 
not  more  than  sixty  days,  or  both." 
And.  as  if  even  that  were  still  insuffi- 
cient, the  statute  declares  that  ail  intoxi- 
cating liquor  intended  by  the  owner  cr 
keeper  to  be  sold  in  violation  of  law, 
shall,  with  the  vessels  in  which  it  is  con- 
tained, be  a  nuisance;  and  upon  proof, 
it  shall  be  utterly  destroyed.  Do  you  say 
that  the  enforcement  of'  those  provisions 
would  inure  to  the  gain  of  the  licensed 
(JtJ'i'Krs  y  Grant  it,  yet  it  is  the  statute, 
and  should  be  enforced  !  It  is,  moreover, 
better  so,  than,  to  have  free  rum  I  It  is, 
then,  for  you  to  see  to  it  forthwith  that  all 
unlicensed  sale  of  liquor  is  stopped  in  this 
city!  Why,  the  official  annotation  of  the 
statute  says  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
proce  that  liquors  were  kept  for  sale 
without  license.  The  honest,  current 
opinion  of  the  neighborhood  is  enough  to 
convict.  The  law  says  virtually  that  if 
a  man  not  having  a  license,  does  not  con- 
duct his  affairs  so  as  to  escape  even  hon- 
est suspicion,  he  shall  be  fined,  or  im- 
prisoned, or  both.  Does  not  that,  on  that 
head,  put  sufficient  power  into  your 
hands  ? 

And  here  I  linger  for  another  moment, 
to  point  you  to  certain  legislation  con- 
cerning adulterated  liquors.  I  quote. 
"  Every  person  who  shall  manufacture, 
sell  or  keep  for  sale,  any  intoxicating 
liquor,  or  any  made  or  compounded  in 
imitation  thereof,  which  is  adulterated 
with  any  deleterious  or  poisonous  ingre- 
dients, shall  be  fined  not  more  than  five 
hundred  dollars,  or  imprisoned  not  more 
than  one  year,  or  both."  The  statute 
proceeds  : — "When  any  prosecution  shall 
be  pending  for  the  manufacturing,  selling 
or  keeping  any  intoxicating  liquor  with 
intent  to  sell  the  same,  and  a  sample  of 
such  liquor  shall  be  presented  in  couU,  it 
may  order  such  sample  to  be  convej'ed  to 
a  State  Chemist  for  analysis,  and  may  ad- 
journ the  trial  of  such  prosecution  a  rea- 
sonable time  for  such  purpose."  "  Copies 
of  records  of  any  analysis  of  liquors  made 
by  a  State  Chemist,  certified  by  him, 
shall  be  legal  evidence  of  the  facts  stated 
in  such  records."  Am  I  not  right  in 
judging  that  the  enforcement  of  that  leg- 
islation would  virtually  destroy  the  liquor- 
traffic  of  Norwich  ?    Do  you  suppo.se  that 


there  is  a  liquor-dealer  in  this  city  who 
can  stand  the  test  ?  And  yet  how  many 
prosecutions  have  we  had  for  adulterated 
liquors  ?  What  use  have  you  made  of 
the  power  which  the  statute  places  in 
your  keeping  V 

And  now  we  come  to  the  restrictive 
regulations.  Listen  to  this.  I  still  quote 
from  the  statute.  "  When  any  person 
shall  complain  to  any  of  the  Selectmen  of 
any  town,  that  his  or  her  father,  mother, 
husband,  wife  or  child,  is  addicted  to  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquor,  and  request 
said  Selectmen,  in  writing,  to  notify  the 
licensed  dealers  in  said  town  not  to  sell, 
exchange,  or  give  any  intoxicating  liquor 
to  such  father,  mother,  husband,  wife  or 
child,  such  Selectmen  shall  forthwith  no- 
tify, in  writing,  every  licensed  dealer  in 
said  town  that  such  request  has  been 
made,  and  the  .sale  of  intoxicating  liquor, 
ale,  lager  beer  and  Rhine-wine  to  such 
father,  mother,  husband,  wife  or  child  is 
forbidden  by  law."  Do  you  not  observe 
how  the  statute  arms  the  hand  of  every 
suffering  woman  and  child  even,  with  the 
means  of  self-defense  't  Mark  you,  there 
is  no  technical  and  substantiated  proof 
required  as  the  preliminary.  There  is  no 
oath  exacted.  The  affiant  makes  the  alle- 
gation in  writing  that  the  person  standing 
in  specified  relation  is  addicted  to  the 
use  of  intoxicating  drink  ;  not  to  excess 
necessarily,  but  addicted  ;  and  forthwith 
the  Selectmen  must  notify,  in  writing, 
every  licensed  dealer  in  the  city  that  the 
sale,  exchange  or  gift  of  liquor  to  that 
person  so  addicted  and  named  is  forbid- 
den bylaw.  It  is  possible,  then,  that  the 
vigilance  of  the  people,  and  the  encour- 
agement of  the  suffering  ones  to  avail 
themselves  of  their  statutory  privilege, 
shall  bring  it  to  pass  that  by  the  solemn, 
specific  act  of  the  Selectmen,  each  licens- 
ed dealer  in  this  cit}'^  shall  be  warned  not 
to  sell,  exchange  or  give  intoxicating 
liquor,  ale,  beer  or  Rhine-wine,  to  any 
drinking  man  or  woman  in  Norwich  ! 
There  is  prohibition  for  you,  if  you  care  to 
take  the  trouble  !  The  full  carrying  out 
of  that  one  provision  would  close  every 
licensed  liquor-saloon  in  the  municipality. 
Why  don't  you  see  to  it  that,  so  far  as 
possible,  it  ui  carried  out  ? 

Listen  again.  ' '  Any  licensed  person 
who  shall  sell  intoxicating  liquor  to  any 
minor  or  intoxicated  person,  or  to  any  hus- 
band after  notice  from  his  wife  not  to  .sell 
to  him,  or  to  any  wife  after  notice  from 
her  husband  not  to  sell  to  her,  or  to  any  ha- 
bitual drunkard,  knowing  him  to  be  such; 
and  any  person  who  shall  procure  or  fur- 
nish any  intoxicating  liquor  to  another, af- 
ter notice  from  the  Selectmen  as  provided 


9 


by  law,  shall  be  fined  not  less  than  twenty 
dollars,  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars,  or  im- 
prisoned not  more  than  sixty  days,  or 
both.  "  By  this  section  the  suffering  wife 
or  iiusband  may  go  directly  to  the  licensed 
seller,  and  file  the  valid  warning.  Will 
the  husband  or  wife  dare  to  do  it  V  Yes, 
I  think  so,  provided  there  is  a  public 
opinion  which  actively  sanctions  and  com- 
mends it.  But,  even  apart  from  that,  the 
sale  to  minors  and  intoxicated  persons 
and  habitual  drunkards,  is  positively  pro- 
hibited under  pain  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment Are  you  doing  all  you  can  to  make 
this  section  operative  ? 

Yet  once  more.  "  Every  person  licensed 
to  sell  intoxicatino:  liquors,  who  shall  be- 
tween twelve  o'clock  at  night,  and  four 
o'clock  of  the  following  morning,  keep 
open  any  place,  apartment,  store,  or  room, 
where  such  liquors  are  sold, or  exchanged, 
or  kept  or  exposed  for  sale  or  exchange, 
shall  be  fined  not  more  than  fifteen  dollars 
nor  less  than  seven  dollars."  What  arj 
you  doing  about  that  ? 

"  And  every  person  who  between  the 
hours  of  twelve  o'clock  Saturday  night, 
and  twelve  o'clock  Sunday  night  next  fol- 
lowing, should  keep  open  any  room,  place 
orinclosure,  or  any  building,or  any  struct 
ure  of  any  kind  or  description,  in  which 
it  is  reputed  that  intoxicating  liquors  are 
exposed  for  sale,  shall  be  fined  forty  dol- 
lars, or  imprisoned  thirty  days,  or  both." 

Again,  "  Whoever  shall  sell  intoxicating 
liquor  to  any  person  who  thereby  becomes 
intoxicated,  and  while  so  intoxicated  shall, 
in  consequence  thereof,  injure  the  person 
or  property  of  another,  shall  pay  just 
damages  to  the  person  injured,  to  be  re- 
covered in  an  action  on  this  statute;  and 
if  the  person  selling  such  intoxicating  li- 
quors is  licensed, the  recovery  ofljudginent 
for  such  damages  shall  be  conclusive 
evidence  of  a  breach  of  the  bond." 

Again.  "  If  any  person  found  intoxi- 
cated, or  arrested  for  intoxication,  shall 
fully  disclose  to  the  prosecuting  olRcer, 
at  his  request,  from  whom  and  when, 
where  and  how,  he  procured  the  liquor 
which  produced  his  intoxication,  and 
shall,  in  the  opinion  of  such  officer, 
testify  fully  and  freely  on  the  trial  of  the 
person  accused  of  selling  him  such  liquor, 
such  disclosure  or  the  evidence  given  by 
him  on  such  trial,  shall  not  be  used  against 
him  on  any  prosecution  for  such  intoxica 
tion." 

And  finally.  "The  County  Commission- 
ers of  each  county  shall  appoint  one  or 
more  persons  residing  therein,  to  be  pros- 
ecuting agents,  who  shall  diligently  in- 
quire into,  and  prosecute  all  violations  of 
the  law  relating  to  the  sale  of  intoxicating 


liquors,  and  shall  have  and  exercise  in  any 
town  or  city  in  said  county  the  powers  of 
grand  jurors  of  said  town,  or  prosecuting 
officers  of  said  city,  in  prosecutions  for 
such  violations.  And  they  shall  render 
monthly  reports  of  their  doings  to  said 
Commissioners,  who  shall  remove  them 
for  cause  and  appoint  others  in  their 
stead."  Have  you  taken  any  pains  to  as- 
certain whether  our  prosecuting  agent  is 
thoroughly  in  earnest,  and  to  commend 
whatever  fidelity  he  displays  V 

Fellow-citizens,  you  have  most  urgent 
need, to  rouse  yourselves  for  the  execution 
of  the  license-law.  Whj",  in  the  manifes- 
toes of  the  licjuordealers  of  this  city,  you 
have  been  counseled  to  that  very  course  ! 
In  one  document  which  you  will  not 
wholly  have  forgotten,  they  said  : — "  The 
question  for  the  electors  of  the  town  to 
determine,  is  whether  they  will  exercise 
their  better  judgment  in  a  faithful  and 
rigorous  enforcement  of  tlie  present 
license-law."  "Faithful  and  rii^^orous" — 
those  are  the  words  !  Tlu-y  spoke  of 
"impartial  enforcement."  They  declared 
that  they  desired  to  "  obey  the  law  implic- 
itly." And  in  still  another  document  not 
less  memorable  they  said:— "  Enforce  the 
law  rigorousl3^  Compel  all  to  observe  its 
entire  provisions."  They  said  that  to  you 
and  me  !  We  will  heed  the  advice.  It  is 
justifiable  to  learn  from  an  enemy  !  Fas 
est  ab  hoste  doceri ! 

But  what  about  the  sincerity  of  the 
rum-sellers  themselves?  Their  iiublislied 
language  meant,  if  it  meant  anything,  that 
the  liquor-dealers  themselves  stood 
pledged  thenceforth  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  license-law  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth.  It  signified,  if  it  signified  augiit 
that  was  sincere,  that  they  would  there- 
after take  front  rank  among  those  wlio 
were  determined  to  make  the  statute  a  liv- 
ing, practical  thing.  It  implied,  so  far  iis 
language  could  imply,  that  in  cooperation 
with  others,  or,  if  need  be,  alone,  they 
would  see  to  it  that  no  person  sold  liquor 
without  a  license  ;  that  no  untrustworthy 
person  should  receive  a  license;  tiiat 
proved  violation  of  the  law  should  be  car- 
ried to  the  result  of  a  forfeiture  of  the 
license  itself  ;  that  no  liciuor  should  be 
sold  to  any  one  respecting  whom  due 
protest  had  been  made  ;  that  no  such  sale 
or  gift  should  be  made  to  any  minor  or 
intoxicated  person  or  habitual  drunkard  ; 
that  no  place  for  the  dispensing  of  liquor 
should  be  open  between  the  hours  of 
twelve  o'clock  and  five  o'clock  of  the 
night,  nor  between  midnight  of  Saturday 
and  midnight  of  the  Sunday  next  follow- 
ing ;  that  if  any  person  sold  liquor  and  it 
caused  damage  through  intoxication,  the 


10 


seller  should  be  made  to  reimburse  the 
loss  ;  that  all  persons  arrested  for  intoxi- 
cation should  be  encouraged  in  making  a 
full  and  free  statement  "  from  whom  and 
when,  where  and  how''  they  procured 
the  liquor;  and  that  the  public  prosecu- 
ting officer  should  be  commended  in  mak- 
ing diligent  inquiry  into,  and  in  vigorous- 
ly prosecuting,  all  violations  of  the  law. 
In  short,  thai  they  themselves  would  sus- 
tain the  law,  and  that  they  would  cordially 
approve  all  effort  put  forth  to  that  end  ! 
Was  that  the  truth?  Was  that  the  fad  ? 
History  says  that  when  the  tyrant  Robes- 
pierre was  pleading  for  his  life  before  the 
National  Assembly,  and  invoking  that 
mercy  which  he  had  refused  to  others, 
he  paused  for  an  instant  in  his  plea  ;  a 
voice  in  the  gallery  cried,  "  See,  he  can't 
speak  !  The  blood  of  Danton  chokes 
him !"  And, at  that  word  recalling  the  past, 
the  Assembly  decreed  his  death.  I  wonder 
that  the  deeds  of  their  doing,  and  the 
intentions  which  at  the  very  moment 
they  were  cherishing,  did  not  choke  the 
utterance  of  the  rum -sellers  of  Norwich, 
when  they  said  that  they  were  for  the 
observance  of  the  law  !  We  are  told  that 
in  the  days  of  Rome's  supremacy,  there 
was  set  in  the  forum,  the  statue  of  the 
god  of  each  subject  province  ;  and  that 
when  any  province  was  meditating  trea 
son,  the  statue  for  that  province  rang 
the  bell  which  was  m  its  right  hand. 
Fellow-citizens,  I  go  to-night  into  the 
forum  of  our  municipal  history  and,  lo, 
the  clangor  of  treason's  signals  simply  fills 
the  air  !  Nor  do  I  judge  alone  by  what 
I  have  seen.  I  do  not  render  the  verdict 
simply  on  the  strength  of  the  present  evi- 
dence which  comes  to  me.  I  point  to 
the  record.  Never,  so  far  as  I  can  learn, 
an  open  prosecution  of  either  licensed  or 
unlicensed  rum-seller,  which  was  institu- 
ted by  one  himself  engaged  in  that  traf 
he  !  Never  a  public  meeting  called  or  a 
manifesto  put  forth,  save  at  the  crisis  of 
election  !  Never  so  much  as  a  whisper  of 
such  things,  when  the  immediate  crisis 
was  past!  So  far  as  can  be  learned,  not  a 
hand  raised  to  punish  any  infraction  of 
the  law  !  Not  the  faintest  plaudit  for  the 
one  who  seeks  to  secure  its  practical  en- 
forcement !  What,  then,  shall  we  think 
of  the  sincerity  of  the  rum  sellers'  procla- 
mations when  they  invoke  the  execution 
of  the  license  provisions  ?  Are  we  not 
right  in  thinking  that,  even  despite  their 
vehement  protests,  we  hear  the  bells  in 
our  forum  striking  the  signal  of  purposed 
and  perpetual  treason  ?  I  tell  you,  good 
friends,  you  cannot  look  to  the  liquor- 
dealers  for  the  maintenance  of  the  statute. 
You   can  look   enly  to  the  constituted 


authorities  and  to  yourselves.  In  reliance 
on  divine  aid,  for  the  sake  of  law,  for  the 
sake  of  the  material  well-being  of  the 
greatest  number,  and  for  the  sake  of  im- 
mortal souls,  you  are  to  see  to  it  that  the 
four  score  licensed  places  for  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  drink,  and  the  half  as  many 
unlicensed,  are  made  to  conform  to  the 
statute  ;  the  one  class  at  their  peril  to  live 
up  to  their  pledges  ;  the  other  class  to  . 
disappear  from  the  limits  of  this  town  ! 
If  you  rightly  value  your  municipal  inter- 
ests, and  the  interests  of  humanity  you 
will  do  it  ! 

Do  you  ask  me  more  specifically 
how  it  can  be  done  ?  I  answer,  and  I 
weigh  my  words.  By  fostering  an  enlight- 
ened public  opinion  which  shall  require 
it.  By  arousing  a  public  conscience 
which  shall  demand  it.  By  securing  or 
creating  a  daily  press  which  shall  advo- 
cate it.  By  yourselves  becoming  the 
avowed,  unwearied  apostles  ot  it.  By 
strongly  encouraging  all  those  who  go  for- 
ward in  the  work.  And  by  forming  an 
organization  which  shall  include  all  the 
anti-rum  citizens  of  this  city  ;  an  organi- 
zation which  shall  provide  funds,  shall 
engage  able  counsel,  shall  employ  special 
police  if  need  be,  and  shall  know  no  fear 
and  show  no  favor  !  How  shall  it  be 
done  ■?  Do  as  you  did  in  the  time  of  our 
War  of  the  Rebellion  !  Associate  your- 
selves for  it.  Count  no  needed  sacrifice 
too  great  to  be  made  !  Decree,  in  the 
name  of  the  people  that  it  mu.st  and  shall 
be  accomplished  !  When  Napoleon 
would  cross  the  Alps  with  his  army,  his 
generals  said  it  could  not  be  done.  He 
sent  his  engineers  to  examine.  They  re- 
ported'"  Sire,  it  is  very  difficult."  He 
quietly  asked,  "  Is  it  possille?"  "  Sire, 
it  is  possible."  And  then  unhesitatingly 
from  the  thin,  determined  lips  came  the 
word — 'Forward!"  When  Alexander 
would  have  a  railway  from  St.  Peters- 
burgh  to  Moscow,  the  surveyors  planned 
a  line  which  turned  to  this  hand  for  one 
reason  of  convenience  and  to  that  hand 
for  another.  The  Emperor  examined 
the  plan,  took  a  ruler,  drew  a  straight 
line  from  St.  Petersburgh  to  Moscow,  and 
said,  "Build  me  that."  Ah,  my  friends, 
you  have  the  power.  Fifty  determined 
men,  men  of  standing  and  of  means, 
could  settle  this  question,  if  only  they 
would  !  The  might  is  not  in  numbers, 
necessarily  !  Followed,  as  it  is  said,  by 
two  millions  of  men,  Xerxes  the  descend- 
ant of  Cyrus  invaded  Greece.  Thirty 
thousand  soldiers  under  the  command  of 
Alexander  the  son  of  Philip,  who 
was  entrusted  by  the  Greeks  with  their 
glory  and  revenge,  were  sufficient  to  sub- 


n 


due  Persia.  How  can  il  be  done  ?  Do  it ! 
And  now  Itnni  once  more  to  the  thought 
thiU  this  contest  against  the  ravages  of 
Intemperance  in  Norwicli,  this  contest 
by  both  moral  suasion  and  law,  is  not  lor 
this  city  alone  !  It  is  for  the  county,  and 
the  state,  and  the  land.  Fellow-citizens, 
God  has  been  giving  us  a  terrible  lesson, 
in  illustration  of  the  truth  tliat  we  are  our 
■  brother's  keeper,and  that  the  brotherhood 
is  not  bounded  by  even  tlie  corporate  lim- 
its. In  a  neighboring  town,  but  a  few 
weeks  ago,  was  a  family  consisting  of  hus- 
band, wife  and  children.  When  sober, 
tlie  husband  was  quiet  and  kind.  U'hen 
intoxicated,  he  was  like  a  tiend.  It  was 
therefore  needfid  that  liquor  should  be 
kept,  if  possible,  beyond  his  reach. 
There  was  no  liquor-shop  in  the  town  of 
his  abode.  None  licensed  in  the  adjoin- 
ing towns.  ]}ul  there  were  in  Norwich, 
and  lie  knew  il.  He  knew  tli:it  if  he  could 
reach  this  city,  he  could  f;nd  intoxicating 
drink  on  every  iinnd.  He  therefore  inadc 
his  way  past  Ledyard,  through  Preston. 
and  entered  our  streets.  He  purciiased 
two  quarts.  He  drank  He  returned 
liouic.  H  '  abuseil  his  family.  Hecurscd 
the  children  of  his  loins  He  .sought  the 
life  of  her  whom  lie  had  sworn  to  love  and 
cherish.  He  raged  in  liisdenioniacal  fury 
until  in  self-defence  he  was  slain  The 
end  of  it,  was  his  blood  bespattering  the 
floors  and  walls  of  his  own  house;  his 
wife  a  wretched  widow;  bis  poor  children 
fatherless;  his  -ilayer  heart-broken;  and  his 
own  soul  apparently  lost  forever  !  The 
end  did  I  say  y  No,  not  thus  the  end  ! 
For  tiie  man  lives  and  walks  the  streets 
of  Norwich  who  provided  him  wiili  the 
fatal  draught.  Tliere  are  those  hereto- 
night,  I  suppose,  who  can  write  the  name 
of  that  man  on  these  wali>,  for  all  to  see. 
I  don't  ask  that  il  be  done  He  himself 
knows  !  God  knows !  I  will  only  Siiy 
this;  that,  as  for  myself,  I  would  rather 
be,  save  as  repentance  and  the  divine  for- 
giveness may  yei  be  applied  to  the  heart, 
1  wouid  ratherbethe  poor  drunkard  who 
sleeps  to-night  (m  the  wintry  hills  of  North 
Stonington,  than  to  be  the  man  who,  for 
money,  sold  him  the  drink.  Together 
those'inen  will  stand  at  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ!  Which,  think  you,  is  the 
guiltier?  Ah,  even  thai  is  not  the  end!  I 
feel  the  fine  drops  of  a  bloody  mist  which 
spatters  itself  on  my  f  ce  lean  see  an 
ensanguined  hue  on  your  brow  !  Even 
the  hand  of  my  dainty  lady  is  just  a  little 
stained  with  the  crimson  which  Lady 
Macbeth  found  il  so  dilHcult  to  wash 
away!  For  it  may  be,  that  had  I  done 
my  whole  duty;  had  you  done  yours;  had 
tiie  most  sheltered  ones   done   theirs  ;   it 


may  be,  I  say,  that  that  horrible  tragedy 
had  not  been  enacted.  Il  is,  accordingly, 
for  you  and  me  to  repent  and  make 
atonement. 

The  truth  is  that  we  are  members  one 
of  another.  The  solidarit}'  of  the  race  is 
not  a  mere  dream.  It  is  something  which 
we  must  realize,  or  we  shall  be  taught  it 
to  our  cost.  Do  you  i-ememljer  the  story 
of  the  daughter  of  England's  premier  ? 
For  her  birthday,  h(!r  noble  father  had  or- 
dered a  magnificent  riding-dress.  It  was 
delivered  on  her  birthday  morning.  She 
rode  with  her  gallant  sire  through 
Hyde  Park !  Splendid  girl !  Star  of  the  ar- 
istocracy !  Yet  in  a  few  days  she  sickened 
of  malignant  disease  and  died  !  And  then 
it  was  found  that  the  dress  had  been  made 
in  an  attic  in  that  neglected  far  East  of 
London,  of  which  Sir  liobert  took  hut  lit- 
tle note,  by  a  seamstress  who  had  u.sed  it 
to  cover  her  poor  husband  as  he  lay  in 
the  alternating  chills  of  his  terrible  fever  ! 
Neglect  your  duty  loyour  fellow-men, and 
it  will  c(Uiie  i)ack  to  plague  your  own 
house  ! 

l>y  every  consideration,  therefore,  a- 
wake-and  be  in  earnest.  Enforce  the  pres- 
ent license  provisions.  Settle  it  thai  law- 
is  law  !  For  ti.en  it  will  come  to  ])ass 
that  when,  next  Octobei-,  you  write;  no- 
license  on  your  statute-book,  it  will  mean 
practical,  actual  prohiijilion.  Above  all, 
give  yourselves  to  that  personal,  lifelong 
effort  which  shall  aim  at  the  pt  isituxiim 
of  all  the  intemperate.  'I'liat  jjersonal  ef 
fort  which  includes  in  its  love  both  the 
rum-seller  and  his  victims,  and  which 
builds  the  safeguards  of  those  who  now  are 
pure. 

Fellow-citizens,  thus  I  haVe  spoken. 

Said  Lord  Bacon, in  concluding  one  of  his 
speeclies  in  the  House  of  Commons  :  "  I 
hiive  told  you  my  opinion.  I  know  it  had 
been  more  safe  and  politic  to  have  been 
silent,  but  it  is  more  honest  and  loving 
to  speak.  \V'hen  a  man  speaketh,  he  may 
be  wounded  by  otluas,  liut  as  he  holds 
his  peace  from  good  thinys,  he  woundetli 
himself."  And  may  God  s|)eed  the  ilay 
of  your  great  success!  It  will  surely  come! 
I  may  say  to  every  Temperance  worker, 
as  Wordsworth  writes  of  'I'oussaint  L"<Ju- 

veiture: 

"  Tliou  liast  great  allies. 
Love,  and  the  unconquerable  mind  of  man." 

God  him.self  is  for\ou,  and  therefore  they 
who  are  with  you  are  more  than  all  they 
who  are  against  you.  I  can  see,  indeeil, 
that  the  cause  is  advancing  Here  a  retlu 
ent  ripple,  and  there  a  backward  eddy! 
But  the  great  tide  is  steadily  onward!  In 
the  coming  of  morning  to  the  the  Arctic 
lands,  the  kindling  dawn  sometimes  dis- 


LtBRAny 


appears  for  hours  together;  yet  it  returuh, 
and  every  return  is  with  mightier  and 
sweeter  power.  I  anticipate  no  future 
defeats.  Yet,  even  if  they  occur,  we  may 
be  assured  that  beyond  the  darkness,  the 
dawn  is  advancing.  Even  now  the 
"  jocund  day 
Stands  tip-toe  on  the  misty  mountain-tops." 


Believe  it,  it  sliall  kiss  tlie  hills  and  illu- 
mine the  valleys.  It  shall  lie  like  a  shaft 
of  light  across  the  land.  If  we,  are  faith- 
ful that  day  shall  be  our  great  reward! 
To'all  the  people  it  shall  be  like  tiie  touch 
of  the  millennium,  the  unveiling  of  the 
New  Heavens  and  the  New  Earth! 


